


Silence

by IssuesoftheSoul



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: EDI and the geth are mentioned, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:53:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24953344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IssuesoftheSoul/pseuds/IssuesoftheSoul
Summary: There is a lot of silence after Shepard defeats the Reapers. The silence is slowly broken down.Or, a poorly written fic involving the squad and Shiara, because there can never be enough fics about that.
Relationships: Female Shepard/Liara T'Soni
Kudos: 14





	Silence

**Author's Note:**

> For real though, it has been so long since I wrote fiction. I apologize if this is bad. I am working my way back to writing fiction and hopefully, future works will be much better.

Shepard miraculously survived the destruction of the Citadel and the Reapers. Her recovery was a long and torturous one, for both her and her bondmate Liara. Shepard should have died, yet she didn’t. This was a fact that haunted our hero throughout her recovery.

The commander, known for her amicable nature and quick wit, was mostly silent, reflective. Liara was worried. Her friends were also worried. Tali, Garrus, James, Ashley, and Miranda were the ones who were often by Shepard’s side through the whole ordeal. The rest were too busy helping rebuild the galaxy. Tali and Garrus had gone to help settle Rannoch, but the Quarians knew that she was fret with worry for her best friend; they sent her back to Earth where Shepard was recovering. James and Ashley, along with most Alliance soldiers, were tasked with helping in the rebuilding efforts. Hackett allowed the Normandy’s Alliance officers to choose where they wanted to go; only James and Ashley were the ones that Shepard was friends with that chose to stay on Earth, with their commander. Joker, Steve, and Samantha were on the Normandy, going to wherever they were needed the most.

Miranda and Liara were the only ones who could ever coax more than a few words from her, the former because she was the lead scientist who helped fix and improve Shepard’s cybernetics, and the latter because Shepard was helplessly in love with her. Most times, Shepard was silent. Her eyes were not really focused. It was obvious she was lost in thought.

No one ever left her alone. They all learned that fairly quickly. One night, Liara went to go find some potable water for her and Shepard, something still scarce because of the war. Shepard woke up screaming from a nightmare, her screams so loud that Liara, Miranda, and several nurses ran back to her room. It took a while for Shepard to quiet down, soon reduced to whimpers and tears as Liara held her tightly and whispered words of love, affection, and reassurance to her bondmate. Once Shepard was cleared to leave the hospital, there was always at least a third person who stayed at Shepard and Liara’s temporary home outside of London city limits.

After the essential structures were re-established in the city Shepard and Liara resided, most crews headed back to London to help rebuild the larger metropolis. Once again, the silence returned. Shepard chose to destroy the Reapers the day after Christmas of 2186. Finally, after months of silence, including on Shepard’s 33rd birthday, Shepard spoke more than a few words to all of her friends.

It was a sunny Saturday in late June, almost six months to the day after the defeat of the Reapers. The silent Commander turned to her friends and, in a voice barely above a whisper, spoke to her friends who were all currently lounging around the living room, mostly in silence with occasional small conversations here and there.

“I killed EDI and the geth. I destroyed the Reapers, but that is the price I paid. The cycle might not be broken. Synthetics will likely rise again and there will be more conflict between organics and synthetics unless we organics change. Organics barely came together for a war that literally threatened their existence. I don’t know how anything will change. EDI and the geth, they’d be disappointed.”

Everyone was shocked at what Jane Shepard had just said. It was the most she had said all at once in nearly six months. Liara, of course, broke the silence first.

“Jane, you did not kill EDI and the geth. The Reapers started this war. Their actions led to their deaths.”

“No, you’re wrong Liara. I had a choice. I could have chosen to control the Reapers, but that would just mean that the Illusive Man was right. And he was wrong. No one should have that much power. I could have attempted a synthesis of organic and synthetic life, which would have used myself as a model since I am both organic and synthetic in nature. But, that is what Saren wanted. Everyone would be turned into a combination of both organics and synthetics with no say in that decision. But it would have saved EDI and the Geth. I would have died, but so many more would have lived.”

Ashley spoke up, “Shepard, you were given an order. To defeat the Reapers. We were all given those orders. From what you said, the only way to completely defeat the Reapers was to destroy them. That is the choice you made. Shepard, you followed orders. And you lived.”

“Williams is right, Lola,” James said, “You lived. Organics lived. We have a future. The synthetics that fought in the war knew what they were up against. Hell, even EDI knew that she could die with the defeat of the Reapers since she was made with Reaper code.”

Garrus continued on the train of thought, “Every other option sounded like it sucked, with absolutely no certainty that the war would end right then and there. If you had chosen to control the Reapers and left with them, there would be some gungho fleet that would hunt them down and try to kill them, probably endangering even more lives. With the synthesis option, who knows what the Reapers would have done? They could have used their newfound knowledge and intimate experience with organic life in order to further destroy us.”

“Darling, what everyone is saying is true. You chose what you thought was the best option. We all think you chose the best option, too. I know it will take a while for you to think otherwise, but please know it is not your fault.”

Shepard whined a little at Liara’s words, trying to contain all of her emotions.

Miranda responded, “Also, thank you for speaking with us about this. It’s clear that you spent most of the past six months thinking about this. You’ve given the galaxy a fighting chance to ensure that the cycle remains broken. If we rebuild synthetics, we must be trusting of them and answer their questions about organic life. We grew to fear our creations rather than continue to foster our creations.”

Tali replied kindly, “We are here for you, Shepard. Anytime you want to talk, we are here for you. We all love you.”

Tears were already running down Jane’s face, but at this point, she broke down into loud sobs. Liara was already sitting next to her and quickly wrapped her up in a hug.

“It’s going to be okay, my love. We are all here for you.”

Not long after Shepard broke her silence, she spoke to her three friends on the Normandy. She apologized profusely to Joker about EDI. Joker had told her that he was not upset with her after she told them about her options. He understood the decision she made and knew that EDI and the geth would have also told her that that was the best option.

* * *

  
  


Two months later, the Earth squad got news from the Normandy.

Tali pulled up a holographic feed on her omnitool in front of everyone. There was Joker, Cortez, and Traynor. While talking to them was not unusual, this particular interaction would always stick out to Shepard as significant and life-changing.

“Commander, everyone. We have some news,” Joker started.

Cortez continued, “So you know how EDI wanted to preserve herself in case something happened during the war?”

Shepard nodded, “Yes, it was after a conversation we had. It seemed like she knew that destroying the Reapers could also destroy everything made from Reaper code.”

Samantha brightly said, “That’s right! Well, after that, there wasn’t much time between going to Cereberus’ headquarters, which EDI joined you for that mission, and also going to Earth. Things happened fairly fast-paced.”

Tali spoke up, “Where are you going with this Traynor?”

“Well, we have some good news! We didn’t want to mention this right away because it seemed like a long shot when we first got started, but now I have been making so much progress since we’ve been traveling the galaxy.

“Not long after your conversation with EDI, she came to me telling me of her plan to try to preserve herself, her consciousness specifically. We started working together to essentially have her consciousness uploaded back into the Normandy whilst also maintaining a copy in her body. After she died, well, it’s taken a lot of work to continue her work. We never got her consciousness uploaded completely to the Normandy, but we established most of her memories and emotions before she died. What remained was just essentially piecing it all together and filling in the gaps using historical records of EDI when she was bodiless.”

Liara spoke up, “And? Are you close to being done?”

This time, Joker grinned and spoke up, “Not only are we close to being done, Traynor here just ran preliminary diagnostics and it seems as if EDI will be restored to near perfect condition, minus the Reaper code of course.”

Cortez continued, “Also, EDI should be able to transfer herself back into her body once everything with her is confirmed to be normal and working. I thought it was kind of weird to be storing her body still in the armory, but hey, I guess it was a good thing we kept it.”

Joker lightly shoved him, “Traynor says it should only take another week of diagnostic checks and coding in order to complete the process. Then we should be able to bring EDI back fully.”

Traynor said, “Commander, EDI knew that she was probably going to die. She would not blame you for her death at all. And neither should you.”

Joker finished off, “EDI was so proud to fight alongside you. It was because of you that she even considered trying to preserve herself. She saw your interactions with Liara after Thessia. That love and support you both showed each other reminded her of my relationship with her. She wanted to be there for me just like you two are there for each other. She didn’t just do this for me. She did this for you, Shepard. She’s coming back. It’s going to be okay.”

With that, the Earth squad cheered, including Shepard. It was her first time getting excited over anything. Liara smiled widely at her bondmate. Shepard’s bright smile was something she had missed seeing.

After that conversation, there wasn’t much silence anymore. Shepard had already begun to talk a lot more, but now, her vivacity and her wit were making a much needed and welcome appearance.

Shepard realized that things, indeed, would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, all mistakes are mine. Come say hi to me on Tumblr: @issuesofthesoul


End file.
